WTAE Pittsburgh's Action News4 Reviews

by Dwreck0320

WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 was my go to app for local news. It works most of the time and is usually up to date, but with one of their recent updates, they lost at least one user, if not more.
I know ads support your revenue stream, and your trying to get as many people to view them as possible, but come on, do you really need your embedded ads to launch mid-story, without interaction?
I love reading the news on my packed bus into work, and while I’m reading a tragic story about what’s happening in the world today, I don’t need a random ad, that I didn’t interact with trying to sell lipstick to everyone else on the bus.
I’m fine with the accidental AD video launching when I click on it, but don’t force ADs on me that I don’t want to know more about, when I’m trying to see if it’s going to rain on me at the bus stop.
I hope they fix WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 , and make it so I can get News again, but in its present form, with the bombardment of ADs, this is definitely a free app that’s a waste of space on your phone.

by Metpj

I rely heavily on your interactive radar being up to date. With the old app when golfing, fishing or watching approaching storms I could count on your interactive being with a few minutes of what was happening. Now I have noticed the it lags by as much as 15 to 30 minuets. Many Times the storm has passed before it show up in my area on your map. It also take a considerable amount of time to upload and just sits and spins where before it was much faster. I don’t feel that I can rely on it any more and have to to other sources. Also when you look at you extended forecast and your live forecast the temperatures do not match up and you can’t rely on the.

by Jaden6270

I love getting news alerts on my lock screen, but unfortunately with WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4, if you don’t open WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 to read the news story, they quit sending the alerts. It would not be so bad if there was actually a story to read when you take the time to put in a password and open WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 , but the “story” is essentially the same as the alert with no additional information. What’s the point? Rather than continue to be aggravated by not receiving alerts, I just deleted WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 . If this changes, I will get it again. In the meantime, I continue to get alerts from the WPXI app with no penalty.

by Tealady55

WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 is my favorite and the easiest for checking both the weather radar and my local forecast. But there are a several problems IMO. I don’t like that it won’t rotate when reading but especially when trying to watch a video. It drives me crazy when, after reading a couple of news stories it takes me back to the beginning instead of returning me to where I was, leaving me to have to continually scroll back down to continue with the next story. Because of this I generally read my news from another local news app then come to this one for the radar and to see if there is news not covered on the other app. Some stories stay on WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 for weeks, maybe longer, and I’ve even seen one that was posted for weeks and FINALLY taken off reappear a few months later! NEWSFLASH! Those stories are no longer news! That also makes me crazy. At times the live news doesn’t work and I can’t go back and watch a broadcast I missed in between live news times. So I don’t usually bother trying.

by Great Graffics

I didn't like the old format and had hopes that the new one would be better. It is not. For one thing, I can't flip it on the iPad and I don't like that inconvenience. The stories are repetitive and often a day or two old. I don't understand why things that are 3 or more days old still are at the top of the list. I don't find it easy to use and find things I want to read. Not a fan of the update notifications, but I can turn that off. Disappointing since WTAE is my go to place for local news.
Old news stays on there for weeks, sometimes months. Like the story of James Conner being drafted by the Steeler. That “news” was on there even after the regular season started.
Sad, for me, that I don’t use WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 much anymore.

by SherBrown

I watch the morning news every morning while getting ready for work. Almost every morning when there is a break the news doesn’t come back on, it just sit idle with the logo and never returns to the news. The only way to get the news back is go out vine back in and start over. That’s usually when I go to a different station. Let’s make it more professional and less like story time. So many times things are partially repeated every time it switches to a new subject. So aggravating. Very hard to understand with today’s technology that wtae doesn’t find a solution. I have noticed CBS and ABC does not have that issue.

by Betteratthelake

No longer living in the greater Pittsburgh area, I still like to keep up with what’s going on there. I see the same old tired stories for days, sometimes weeks on end. I also don’t like suffering thru an ad every time I open a story and notice that often the video attached to the story is either old news or has nothing to do with the story itself. Also, your idea of breaking news is clearly different than mine.
My husband has already deleted WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 from his phone.

by Ashperez2001

I hate that you try to scroll and it scrolls on super drive on it’s own. I wish the news stories were updated more often. There’s been times I go check other news apps while I’m waiting for WTAE to update their stories. I also hate that if you close out of WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 even for a second, when you open WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 back up, it refreshes the whole app back to the beginning and you have to scroll back through to find where you left off.

by Hdpittsburgh

This is my preferred station to watch/follow for news. However it drives me crazy when I get a new notification (which I can’t read fast enough or only has partial info) but when I go to WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 the story is nowhere to be found.
If it’s important enough to send a notification shouldn’t it be one of the “featured stories”? I don’t want to have to go digging around to figure out where the story is on the site.

by Grmadid

I grew up on WTAE news and I am used to the newscasters. Recently they tell half truths unless it benefits an agenda. I have to wait and wait for the news to come back on after the commercials and sometimes it skips video, sometimes it repeats a short audio/video, nothing like real tv but it’s my local news. I wish all reporters/announcers did real journalism and report the truth but sadly it isn’t true these days

by PA For Trump

I like your reporters, especially the morning ladies. I realize they report whatever they are told to say. I wish we could find at least one local station that is not Liberal biased.
There is never any positive news for the conservatives and no mention of Trump’s achievements. He has been nominated for three Nobel Peace prizes and never even a five second mention of that or any of his other accomplishments.

by Cherubcrnp

Although the graphics are terrific, the rest is annoying. Having to watch an entire video of the weather to see the forecast is annoying especially if you are somewhere where the audio can’t or shouldn’t be played. The breaking news alerts are inaccurate. When clicking on a breaking news alert isn’t not on the site. If it’s that important, it should be there. The news stories are old and often there for days. Playing a video of a news story is also annoying especially when in areas where playing video reports is inappropriate.

by Pghbulldog

But there have been several times that I click on an alert that pops up on my phone and I’m super interested to read the story, but it takes me to the home page and I can’t find the story that I’m interested in reading. Really frustrating. Or I get a notification, click on WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 - nothing. Just the homepage with the same breaking news I already read hours ago.

by Pgh Woman

I enjoy WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 to keep me up to date on local news. The one thing I don’t like is the sound from video comes blaring out as soon as you go to the article. Would be better if it was muted and then you touch it to unmute. Sometimes I prefer to just read the story without the video.

by Too Loud In The Am

I turn my phone on to watch the news every morning as I get ready for work. Only one complaint..... commercials that come on at the beginning are blaring loud so immed I turn to mute to not wake husband .... and seems like I see the SAME commercial repeated soooooo much ... to the point it is frustrating! I understand your need for commercials ... but can you change them up more and make it so they come on in normal volume so I can hear without muting ! Thanks

by RodneyP@hp

I have been a viewer of WTAE for 50 years. I listen to the Rossen Report tonight explaining the difference between mail in ballots an absentee ballots. You should be ashamed ofYourself for allowing Rossen to go on and report that the absentee ballot and mail in ballot is the same and that there is no difference.
This is a total misrepresentation to all of your viewers.
This Rossen report is one of the worst segments I’ve ever seen your station have

by Billie And Morf

We love watching channel 4 news and weather. I now live in central PA and we like 4 news and weather best! We wish you would still give weather for our area, but it’s still better coverage than we get lovally. When we are traveling we get coverage from our app. It’s great! Love the live updates provided by WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 too! Thank you for providing the coverage for us!

by Evan_Novakova

Ever since the most recent update, the articles are too zoomed in, cutting off whole parts of sentences, and I can't zoom it out. I literally have to search the article title in Safari if I want to actually read the blessed thing... or just go to WPXI, who actually have an app that functions.

They fixed the issue. The reporting is usually pretty fair, and I like knowing what’s going on in my area. Kudos.

by Sisfairplayr

Love watching Channel 4 News and Weather on tv but not always able to . That’s when WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 comes in real handy ! It’s so easy to use and very informative. I love getting first hand important news through my notifications . I haven’t found any issues with the format or going to the story I am interested in. Thanks for the up to date world & local news at my fingertips.

by Meak-h

Grew-up in the ‘60’s & ‘70’s, in the South Hills. Early-on, it was black & white tv, w/only 6 channels: 2, 4, 11, 13, 7 ( from Wheeling), & 9 ( from Steubenville). Channel 4 was “ghostly”, so I didn’t see much. As I grew, things changed, & we got a color tv, & there’s channel 4! Always enjoyed the “Afterschool Special “, & of course, “General Hospital “!!!
I got married, stayed somewhat local for about 6 years, then moved out-of state for 4 years. While away, I always sought the ABC affiliate.
Since coming back, I’m still somewhat local, & I continue to watch channel 4; some series (ie; “Grey’s Anatomy”), & especially, the news.
Having WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 on my iPad, & iPhone, I can keep-up w/EVERYTHING...news, sports, & especially weather, if I’m not near the tv. Just means sooo much to be alerted when severe weather is upon us, & have the radar, right @ my fingertips.
Thank You!

by WeatherChk

I probably use the weather portion of WTAEPittsburghsActionNews4 more than any other part of it. The hourly forecast is great except for hours that have more than one line of text at the top. On those, the chance of precipitation is cut off so that it cannot be read. Not very helpful. When reading a longer news story, I have been scrolling down and all of the sudden I’m back to the top. Usually I just give up at that point.

by Marian714

I wish all the local news was 1st, followed by National then International news.
Then all the feel good & bling.
Please do not go the way of KDKA, who’s app I deleted because of all the pop-ups!
I like WTAE News as they give you the facts without the self promoting, unimportant stuff. Really, who care if it’s exclusive or where you got the facts. People who aren’t reading won’t see it anyway & the ones that are, evidently choose you over the others so it’s unnecessary.

by CRKemp

I love WTAE action news. They always keep you abreast of things that are happening locally, nationally, and internationally. Over the years, they’ve become the go to news station in Pittsburgh. My only recommendation is that they focus on more crime related matters occurring in our neighborhoods. It’s important to be informed of things going on in your own backyard.